Date
Fall 2018
Shar ing OURFait h New Hope's M onthly Newsletter
For t y y ear s in t he mak ing Rev. St eve Nor den , Sen i or Past or nor den@NewHopeWor ship.com - 614.766.5445x15 - NewHopeWor ship.com/Pa stor Steve
NEWHOPECHURCH A M inistry of the Reformed Church in America
Rev. St eph en M . Nor den , Sen i or Past or Rev. Sar ah E. Pal sm a, Associ at e Past or
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SUNDAYWORSHIPSCHEDULE 9:00AM Contem por ar y Wor ship Sunday School for ages 3 thr ough 5th Gr ade
10:15AM Sunday School for Adults and Youth Pr aise School for ages 3 thr ough 5th Gr ade
11:15AM Tr aditional Wor ship School House Sunday School for Kids
......................... 4739 W. Pow el l Rd. (Next to the Columbus Zoo)
Pow el l , OH 43065 614.766.5445 New HopeWor sh i p.com ......................... Facebook .com /New HopePow el l Tw i t t er .com /New HopePow el l Pi n t er est .com /New HopePow el l I n st agr am .com /New HopePow el l Vi m eo.com /New HopePow el l
......................... New Hope's Mission To Reach people for Chr ist, Root people in Chr ist, and Rel ease people to ser ve Chr ist.
As I m entioned in a Sunday m essage ear lier this m onth, I r ecently obser ved tw o ver y closely r elated m ilestones. July 19 w as the 40th anniver sar y of my or dination as M inister of Wor d and Sacr am ent in the Refor m ed Chur ch in Am er ica. For ty year s ago on August 1, I began life as a ?pastor ? on the staff of the Second Refor m ed Chur ch in Kalam azoo, M I. It?s har d for m e to r ealize that I have been pastor ing for four decades. As I r em inisce, ther e?s m uch that has changed. Per haps it?s m ildly am using to r eflect together on som e of those changes. W hat follow s is in no par ticular or der of pr ior ity. Cer tainly the r evolution in technology w ithin the life of the chur ch and her pastor s has been nothing shor t of r em ar kable. W hen I began pastor ing, no one I knew had a per sonal com puter. One of my colleagues dictated his ser m ons and our chur ch secr etar y w ould tr anscr ibe them fr om tape. Another typed his on a m anual typew r iter. I w as for tunate to have pur chased an electr ic typew r iter w ith funds that I r eceived as a gr aduation gift. The w eekly w or ship bulletins w er e typed on stencils and then duplicated (it w as hor r ible to cor r ect er r or s). If you w ould have told m e that w e w ould pr oject lyr ics to songs/hym ns on a scr een instead of using The Hym nal, I w ould have
questioned your sanity. That having been said, w e did use an over head pr ojector w ith tr anspar encies for songs that w e sang dur ing Sunday School opening exer cises. (Yes, that w as a BIG thing in that day.) Voice m ail w as an unknow n. We did have an answ er ing m achine (fir st gener ation) that w e used to r ecor d a daily devotional. Other than that, it had no use. Cell phones and em ail w er e not in our w ildest im agination. If you w anted to contact m e/us, you m ay have called my hom e phone (a r otar y I m ight add) or you w ould have left a m essage w ith the chur ch secr etar y and she w ould place a phone m essage slip on my desk . Ther e w as som ething w onder ful about not being accessible 24/7. Another change has to do w ith the com petition, or lack ther eof, that the chur ch faced. Believe it or not, m ost fam ilies attended w or ship near ly ever y Sunday. We actually could count on Wednesday evenings to be r eser ved for chur ch activities. W hen w e planned w or ship, par ticular ly a ser ies of m essages, or chur ch activities w e sim ply did not ask the question ?w ho w ill be ther e?? Ever yone w as ther e unless ther e w as a m ajor cr isis. Today, w e face com petition fr om spor ts, school activities and any num ber of w eekly events that assum e pr ior ity over faith or our childr en?s